Harbors "Harbors"

Welcome! 

Just a quick message to say thank you to everyone who viewed my first blog. It means a lot and to get over 100 views is something I didn't expect! Thank you! Now onto today's review. 

The band I am reviewing today is Harbors with their self-titled album that was released a couple of years ago, I have been listening to this album for a few months now and I'm still finding little gems in this record. I have been searching for new music via a website called 'Noisetrade'. Where you can download albums for free that bands have uploaded purely for publicity so there's no illegal shenanigans going on. If you're looking for new music or supporting unsigned artists, its definitely the place to look. I came across this album purely by chance and I was thoroughly surprised by the music that was being made. 

David Shayne - Harbors frontman

The genre for the band is called 'attic noise'. I'd never heard of this sub-genre before, but it initially sounded like a decent indie album to me. Coming from Los Angeles, the front man David Shayne (Vocals/Guitar) is actually the only permanent member of the band and invites his friends to play the other instruments he desires. I thought this was a really creative way to produce an album. There are a number of instruments played in this album that aren't in your typical line up and the fact he could pick and choose who/what he wanted is quite the position to be in when making an album. 

David's voice is quite monotone throughout the album, once you've heard his voice, it doesn't change or get pushed to the limits.Then again this isn't a bad thing, sometimes pushing your voice can over-do what you were setting out to achieve and fits the genre of the record well. At times it can sound a bit safe, but his voice is professional enough to really give this album character,colour and its personal identity to it. The one thing I do really love about this album is the riff's and licks on the guitar, they're really creative and catchy. There are a number of songs on this album that achieve this such as 'Glass Heart' and 'Darkest Eyes'. One song that does this wonderfully is the first song on the album called 'Catalyst'. The vocals and guitar both have clever riffs making it an instant winner for me, its one of the strongest songs on the album for this reason.

'Harbors' album cover

Going back to the whole musician choice, he really stretches his limits being in an unsigned band. Usually bands with not much money or choice will just want to use their members and try push an album out. Instead David has brought in standard instrumentation you'd expect on an album such as drums and bass, but also includes instruments such as violin and organs to give the album an identification.

I really rate the violins in this album. Especially in the songs 'Stranger' and 'Guns', they just make the songs more emotional and breath new life into them. The one thing that didn't work was the use of effects on the drums/a drum machine on the song 'Stay Here'. I felt this song was too different and didn't flow with the rest of the tracks. The arrangements of the songs are pretty standard, but its the musicality of them is what makes them clever and gets my ears listening.

In conclusion, this album is a brilliant piece of music and one that I have been happily listening to for a while. This is one of the reasons why I decided to review this album because its a bit different to anything I have heard before in the sense of a personal identity to a record. It has its own niche sections that make this album a Harbors album and not to sound like anybody else's. The strongest songs I recommend listening to first is 'Catalyst', 'Stranger' and 'Darkest Eyes'. 

Thank you for reading and I'll post a new blog very soon!

Lewis :)


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harborsmusic

Website: http://harborsmusic.com/

Bandcamp: http://harborsmusic.bandcamp.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/harborsss